Loyalties
by danniisupernova
Summary: Set just after the third season finale, Chief tries to reconcile the present with the past. ChiefBoomer, mentions of ChiefCally. Major spoilers for the finale. This is the Loyalties arc, previously referred to as Injuries and The Best Part of Valor.
1. Injuries

He stumbled down the hall towards the deck.

i A cylon? Of all the people in the universe, of all the people in the fleet, and b I'm /b a cylon? /i he thought desperately. Maybe the gods had it wrong. He wasn't a cylon. He was just Galen Tyrol, a mechanic, a family man.

i Oh gods, Cally! /i he remembered.

She would stop loving him if she found out, would probably kill him out right. He thought of her, pregnant and glowing. Of her lying in his bed, sleeping, their child at her side. He thought of how much she hated Boomer, even now, no matter how much time had passed. He saw that hatred turned on him.

Tyrol looked up, suddenly realizing where he'd come to. He could hear the shot ringing out. She had crumpled, clutching the newly made hole in her stomach. In that moment, everything had seemed to drift away and all he could see was someone he loved dying. Only a few seconds before he had hated her. She'd turned all the things he'd thought were important into ones and zeroes. She'd never loved him. How could she, when she was a machine?

i But I was a machine too. I b am /b a machine, /i he thought miserably. Reality seemed completely arbitrary, shifting from Tyrol and the Cylon. He could lose everything. He could hurt someone. What if he already had? Frantically he racked his brains to remember everything he'd done for days. It seemed like he could remember everything. But how did you know if you'd forgotten something if you couldn't remember it?

He thought back to Sharon again. Had she felt this way? Terrified that she could hurt or kill the people she loved? He thought of the way she had looked at him, the sadness in her voice when she'd told him that she loved him before she disappeared into whatever place it was that Cylons went when they died. And then came back.

He found himself aching for her. It had been months since he'd thought of her, keeping the memories at bay with Cally and work and the baby. And whiskey. Nothing worked better then whiskey. He hated himself for caring about her, still, even after having a new family and a wife who loved him. He wished that he could see her and apologize for the last two years, for forgetting her and letting himself hate her. He knew that she would forgive him. She always forgave him. He wondered where she was now. On some Cylon Basestar somewhere? Or maybe she had winked out of existence, like the diseased cylon prisoners and he would really never see her again.

He stared at the floor, picturing her dying in his arms all over again. He realized that the last thing he'd said to her was that he hated her. He should have told her that he still loved her when he had the chance. He should have told her that he could never stop loving her.

"Chief?"

He started. There she was! It was as if he'd called her back, just by wishing it. She cocked her head at him. "Are you alright?"

Then he remembered. "Fine, Athena. I'm fine. You'd better get to the deck. They'll need you there right now."

"But not you?" she asked. "You are kind of the lynch pin of a lot of this." He stared at her. "Head mechanic? Sort of saves lives and keeps things moving?" She looked at him curiously. "What are you doing here any way?"

"Sharon?"

"Yes?"

"You still have Boomer's memories installed in you, right?"

She still had that curious look on her face. "Yes. Why?"

"Did she really love me? Or was it part of her programming? You know, part of her mission?"

The curious look was gone, replaced by a hard one, a look that was almost angry.

"It isn't my place to share any of that with you. She told me about what happened. How you rejected her. I've kept it separate from any relationship I might have with you, but her memories are hers to share, especially if they are as intimate as that."

"What do you mean, she told you?"

"She was here. During the negotiations. We spoke then."

Tyrol's face lit up. "She's alive? Can you give her a message for me?" Athena's look did not change. "I'm not exactly in close contact with the cylons. Maybe if I saw her again, but that would be highly unlikely. Unless…" she stopped.

"Unless what?"

"The cylons aren't exactly trying to track us right now. " She indicated the alarm resonating throughout the ship. "I could probably establish contact without it having any adverse effects. Is it very important?"

"Yes. Yes it is. But you can't tell anyone else."

Sharon sighed. "Alright then. Give me the message and I'll make sure she gets it."

He cupped her ear and whispered into it. Tyrol was immediately reminded of being on a playground in his childhood, whispering into the ear of a little girl. He'd forgotten her name, but he'd been sure that she was going to marry him and they would live together until they got old.

When he was finished, Athena looked at him oddly again. "Alright then. We might want to get to the deck." She strode off.

"Wait!" She turned to look back at him. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because you didn't see her. On the basestar, she was raving, furious. She was surrounded by her own and yet she was completely alone. She almost killed my child. And I understood why. She wished that Hera was hers. And yours. Instead you have Nicholas and Cally. She's been replaced, but not just by me. You think about that, when I give her this message."

"Why do you want to help her then?"

Sharon smiled and shook her head.

"Oh Chief," she said sadly, "you really don't understand anything about us do you?"

She turned and left.

"Racetrack, I need you to do something for me." The other pilot looked at Athena suspiciously. "I need to you to establish direct contact with the Basestar."

"What?! Why?"

"It's for Tyrol. He needs me to do him a favor."

"A favor? By contacting the frakking enemy right in the middle of-"

"It's about Boomer."

Racetrack looked at her. "What do you mean 'Boomer'?"

A raider flew by firing rapidly across the bow of their Raptor.

"Please just frakking do it!"

"Alright, alright! The connection's up now."

Sharon left the pilots chair, turning to the small screen. "Take over for me!"

She sat down to see a 6.

"Well hello little sister. What do the humans have you doing now? Trying to negotiate peace are we?"

Sharon glared at the blonde machine. "No. I need to speak with another 8. Galactica 8."

"Why should I-"

There was a disturbance on the screen as the 6 was pushed out of the way.

"What is it?" Her hair was wet and she was naked. She had just been resurrected, all the pain of death and remembrance etched into her face.

"It's Chief. He gave me a message to give to you."

The anger seemed to fade from her face. "How is he? Is he happy?" She looked almost desperately sad.

"He seems…" Sharon held back her first answer that he was fine. The truth was that when she had seen him, he had seemed lost. Lost and thinking of her sister. The Cylon within her longed to tell Boomer that the Chief was lost without her, but Sharon knew that it would only make things better for a moment. Later, it would gnaw at her, knowing that it was impossible to go to him, to help him, to return to the life that she had been thrown out of. That she, Sharon Agathon had usurped.

"He needed me to tell you something."

Boomer looked at her expectantly.

"He says that he's sorry. He says that he wishes that he could have protected you. And that he had told you…" she paused, unsure of how to go on. "He told you that he hated you before you died. But he wants you to know that he's never stopped loving you. That he never will stop." Sharon looked down at her uniform when she said this. She reminded herself that she hadn't forcibly taken this away from Boomer. That had been…well it had been God, hadn't it?

She looked up at the small screen again. Boomer looked up, away from her. She was smiling, but tears were welling up in her eyes and beginning to run down her cheeks. She looked back at her copy. She put her hand to the screen. Athena placed her hand over hers. Boomer smiled, radiant.

Then the transmission winked out.

In the CIC, Gaeta called out to the admiral.

"Admiral Adama! I've just picked up a communication line between a Raptor and the lead Cylon Basestar!"

The admiral turned sharply to face him. "Which Raptor?"

He paused for a moment. "Sir…it's Athena and Racetrack. They have an open communications line. "

"Cut it, immediately. And prepare to arrest Lieutenant Agathon as soon as she lands."


	2. The Best Part of Valor

"You are going to let me leave. Right now!"

"What purpose would that serve except to get you killed? We have a pitched battle going on right outside! You really think they wouldn't blast you out of the air the moment you took off? You have no cover, no captured Raptor and no hope."

"I don't care! I have to get to Galactica."

The 8 looked at her, a sweet, understanding look on her face. It made Boomer want punch her. "Sharon," she began, "they would kill you."

"So I'll be reborn again."

"But this would make your third time! Why would you want to return to the humans who humiliated you, who killed you? You should stay here with us. We love you"

Boomer was silent. She glared at the 8. The other model continued to smile beneficently. It was unsettling. Looking at a copy of herself was like staring into a mirror and the conflicting expressions made her feel like she was reeling.

The 8 reached out and touched her cheek. "Trust us. We are one and the same. All of us together, a greater whole. We are blessed and chosen by God-"

"Shut up."

Boomer threw the 8's hand off. "We are not blessed! We are not chosen! We are discarded technology! A frakking abomination! We kill those who built us and why? Because of some fake belief system in our programming. What the hell do any of you know about love?"

The 8 tried to place her hand on Boomer's head in a poor attempt at comforting her. Boomer smacked her across the face causing the other Cylon to fall to the floor. The 8 drew away from Boomer, terrified.

A Centurion immediately approached them, its sensors detecting the 8's fear and pain. It turned its blank, perpetually angry stare to Boomer, not sure if it should attack or withdraw.

"Oh just frakking shoot me! I'm not a Cylon, I'm not a human, I'm just-"

She was cut off mid-sentence by the bullet in her skull.

The Centurion had followed its protocol to the letter. The 8 leaned over Boomer's body (a practically brand new body at that) to touch her face. She was so sad and the 8 wished that she could help her. But it seemed like nothing could help their fallen sister anymore.

Athena sat in the brig. She was all too familiar with this cell to be comfortable being back in it.

She waited for Tigh or Adama to come and question her. Adama had been very discreet about her arrest. He had sent Gaeta, of all people, to come down to the deck once she'd landed and he'd simply touched her lightly on the elbow and led her away. He had quietly told her where he was taking her and why. She hadn't fought, she didn't want to cause a scene. As Gaeta had walked her towards the brig, Cally had caught her eye. She was the last person Sharon wanted to see. In fact, she was i always /i the last person Sharon wanted to see. Cally looked at her with a small smile on her face, seemingly triumphant in her scorn. Sharon had turned away from her, knowing that she deserved that look. Hadn't she been practically orchestrating the dissolution of Cally's marriage with her crime?

She understood that her position on the ship was very delicate and even an infraction like this, which would reflect suspicion onto her. And why wouldn't it? Her rank didn't change what she was. She didn't want it to. She was still a cylon. There was nothing that they could do to ever change that.

They had moved Gaius' 6. She had no idea to where. She almost wished for the company of someone who would understand when she explained. Or failed to explain as the case would probably be.

It was Tigh who walked in. She knew that Tigh despised her. Despised her and everything he thought she symbolized in the fleet. i This should teach me to think twice before doing people favors, /i she thought cynically. But then she remembered Boomer's ( i her /i )

face. It made all of this trouble worth it.

i That's the Cylon talking. /i The thought echoed deep inside her head.

Tigh sat down at the table in the center of the room, gesturing to the chair opposite him. Athena sat down casually, almost leisurely, not wanting to show any fear. She stared at him, waiting.

"Lieutenant, why did you attempt to contact the enemy flagship during battle?" His one eye looked at her, but his expression revealed no hate, no contempt. Only what seemed to be curiosity and an almost nervous apprehension.

Athena sighed and looked him in the face.

"I can't tell you."

"I guess they finally caught on to that toaster bitch."

"What?"

Cally looked at her husband. "Sharon. I saw Gaeta taking her away. I think they arrested her."

Chief looked at her, shocked. "Why do you suddenly have a problem with Sharon?"

She shrugged, looking down into the sparking engine of a Viper. "I've always had a problem with her. She's…" Cally trailed off, looking at Chief from the corner of her eye. "She's a Cylon. Everyone around her seems to like to forget that. She's the enemy. That's never going to change. i People /i change. Machines don't."

Tyrol stared at her. He could forget sometimes how much she hated other people. A lot of the time it seemed like she could shut out everyone. Except him. Him and the baby. i What will she do when she finds out? She's always been so open for me. She's always loved me but now… /i 

He shook it off. 

"They took her to the brig?"

"Yeah." Cally looked up at him from the Viper.

"What do you care?" She was suspicious. He could see it in her eyes. Suddenly it made him furious that she would be suspicious. Who the hell did she think he was anyway? Some frakking traitor? Again he realized that Boomer had probably looked at him and felt this way. He felt more and more like he had frakked her over. Like he had been the one doing the betraying.

"Well, Cally," he began sarcastically. "Not everyone has to hate Sharon just because you do." She gaped at him, hurt. Then her face hardened, as he knew it would. She turned away from him, back to the engine at hand. He waited for a moment, wanting and not wanting to apologize. Finally, he turned and left.

"So tell me again why it is that you can't tell me why you contacted the enemy during a combat situation?" Tigh hadn't shouted at her, hadn't gotten physical, hadn't even been discourteous to her. He just seemed too tired to do any of these things.

"Sir, I can't reveal my motives. I will admit that they were not sinister. I wasn't trying to frak anything up. What difference does it make if I did anyway? They're here right now, they don't need to find us."

Tigh got up from his place. "You know, the old man really feels like you stabbed him in the back on this one Sharon."

She looked at him sadly. She remembered how hard she had strived to get the Admiral to trust her ( i again /i ) "I wish I could. But I can't. I made a promise."

Tigh looked at her, anger beginning to blossom in his eyes. "I hate to break it to you, little girl, but this is not the school playground. People's confidences are not kept like this, in breach of protocol and," he said, his anger becoming more and more apparent "of hard earned trust. You could even face the airlock for this."

Athena closed her eyes and pictured her sister's ( i her /i ) face again. She imagined Tyrol, the look on his face when he realized that his mistake could be could be corrected, that something that haunted him everyday didn't have to anymore. She opened her eyes.

"I can't."

"Colonel?" Tigh turned to see Tyrol standing at the door to the cell. "What is it Chief?" Tigh did not meet the other man's eyes. Sharon saw the determined look on his face. It was stupidly noble.

"Chief, don't. You aren't in trouble, don't say anything." Tigh looked at Sharon, almost frantic. If she knew about Tyrol there was a good chance she knew about him too. What about the others? How was it even possible…?

"Sir, I asked Lieutenant Agathon to contact the Basestar." The Colonol looked at him sharply, but did not ask why. "That doesn't change anything, son. She still did what she did. She's got free will, just like the rest of us." His almost non existent emphasis on the word 'us' caused Tyrol to look down at his shoes.

Chief swallowed. "I…I threatened the Lieutenant's family, sir. I told her that I would hurt her daughter if she didn't do this for me."

Sharon stood up. "Chief, what the hell are you doing? Do you know what they'll do to you?" She kept seeing Boomer's face. She thought of his wife, his kids. Suddenly, one of the most stable people she knew was gambling everything he had. And for what? Machines. i What the frak is going on?! /i 

Tigh looked at him. "I can't protect you Chief. Once you do this, there will be no undoing it." 

"NO! Dammit don't listen to him! I was doing him a favor! Give me time in the brig or throw me back in here! Tyrol asked me to do something for him and I did it, because I'm his friend! He didn't threaten me or Hera," Sharon was so frantic she could barely speak. "Please…"

Chief looked at her. "Sharon I can't let you take the fall for me."

"Yes! Yes you can!" Sharon smiled at him. "Stop trying to save me. You've done enough for me. I was just trying to return the favor."

Chief didn't look at her. "Are you going to arrest me or what?" he asked, looking away from her.

Cally saw Sharon walk across the deck. She had been working on a bigger job, one of the Vipers that was practically scrapped. She was tucked into a corner with her project, seething at Tyrol.

The other woman seemed skittish. She was wearing her greens rather then a flight suit. She ducked into the shadows, not wanting to be seen (much like Cally herself). She walked past Cally and seemed to pause for a moment, looking at her oddly.

"I see they let you out of the brig. Again." Cally's voice was full of contempt. Sharon smiled a little at her. Suddenly, Cally was sorry that she wasn't in the brightly lit, busy mainstream of the deck.

Deftly, she pulled her gun from its holster and pointed it at the little mechanic.

"You shot me. I could shoot you, right now. And when I was killed the only thing that would happen to me, is resurrection. But you, you would disappear forever." Cally backed away from her, terror dawning on her face. "Who…what…Boomer?"

Boomer tucked the barrel of the gun under Cally's chin. She leaned in a whispered in her ear "Do you want to know where real people go when they die?"


End file.
